1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical image generation apparatus, a medical image storage apparatus, a medial image display apparatus, and a medial image display system which allow the medical image display apparatus to display an medical image requested by an operator regardless of the performance of the medical image display apparatus by processing internal images of an object taken by the image generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, medical diagnostic imaging apparatuses which collect internal information of an object and make internal images of the object based on the collected information to generate a medical image are used. Examples of such medical diagnostic imaging apparatuses are X-ray computed tomography (CT) apparatuses, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatuses, and the like. The generated medical images are displayed on a medical image display apparatus connected to the medical diagnostic imaging apparatus through a network.
As for these medical images, for example, a plurality of three-dimensional (hereinafter, properly referred to as 3D) data blocks are read in chronological order and are subjected to multi-planar reconstruction (MPR) or volume rendering by the medical image display apparatus. The obtained MPR images, 3D data images, or four-dimensional (hereinafter, also properly referred to as 4D) data are displayed.
However, it is difficult in some cases to easily know temporal changes of a portion (a site of interest) included in the 3D data. The invention disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2008-148849 therefore proposes a medical diagnostic imaging apparatus which allows such temporal changes in a site of interest concerning a particular part to be known on a screen.
However, the invention disclosed in above Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2008-148849 does not consider the following point.
Specifically, even if 4D image data is generated, for example, based on data of images taken by the medical diagnostic imaging apparatus, there is a possibility that the generated 4D image data cannot be displayed by the medical image display apparatus connected to the network.
The amount of normal 4D image data is huge. Accordingly, even though a doctor tries to display 4D image data on the medical image display apparatus during an examination, the 4D image data cannot be displayed in some cases because of inadequate performance of the medical image display apparatus such as memory shortage thereof.
There is no point in not using or not being capable of using the generated 4D image. In addition, the places where the 4D images can be accessed are limited depending on the performance of the display apparatus such as the capability of processing 4D images or provision of software capable of reproducing 4D images. This can reduce the effective opportunities for the doctor to let the patient understand the symptoms.
On the other hand, instead of displaying 4D image data, it is possible to read and display only 3D image data blocks in chronological order. In this case, it is necessary to specify and display a 3D image data block of interest which is requested by an operator from a plurality of 3D image data blocks arranged in a number of time series. However, specifying the 3D image data block of interest is very complicated and cannot be easily conducted in many cases.
The present invention is made to solve the aforementioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a medical image generation apparatus, a medical image storage apparatus, a medical image display apparatus, and a medical image display system which enable displaying a large amount of image data with a simple operation regardless of the performance of the display apparatus.